Leon Powe's double-double can't beat UA
Stopping California sophomore forward Leon Powe proved to be nearly impossible, but the Arizona men's basketball team shut down Powe's teammates to hold off the Golden Bears 60-55 in McKale Center Saturday to gain their second consecutive victory.
Senior guard Hassan Adams, who led the team with 16 points, made one of two free throws with eight seconds left to put Arizona (12-6, 5-3 Pacific 10 Conference) up 58-55. Cal junior guard
Ayinde Ubaka got a good look at a 3-pointer from the left wing but clanged it off the rim, and Adams grabbed the defensive rebound with one second remaining. Arizona shot just 33.3 percent from the field but attempted 15 more shots and 11 more free throws than Cal.
"Defensively, I'm not sure we've played better than we did," Arizona head coach Lute Olson said. "The problem was we couldn't put the ball in the hole at the other end."
Powe scored 23 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, but the physical California team (10-6, 4-3) was out-rebounded by the Wildcats 47-30.
"He has a huge body," said junior forward Ivan Radenovic, who spent most of the night defending Powe. "He's not that tall, but he's really physical and real athletic, and that's what he does best, getting the ball inside and getting layups."
Arizona hit the offensive glass hard, snatching 21 offensive rebounds to Cal's six while converting 17 second-chance points.
"We did a great job in there, them having big bodies inside," Radenovic said. "We boxed them out pretty well, and we rebounded great on the offensive end. It was just about our effort."
Arizona double-teamed Powe, but the Golden Bears couldn't knock down perimeter shots, going 3-of-16 from beyond the arc.
"I think our big guys did a great job of sticking him and doubling him," Adams said.
"We just wanted to get a hand up," Adams added. "We were practicing the day before, because they're a catch-and-shoot team, to try to make them put it on the floor. They're ineffective if they did that."
Freshman forward Marcus Williams couldn't find his stroke from the field, scoring nine points on 3-of-13 shooting, but led the Wildcats with a career-high 11 rebounds after scoring a career-high 22 points in Thursday's win over Stanford.
"I just tried to do other things like rebound and try to play aggressive on defense," Williams said.
The Wildcats' bench came in and contributed as well, scoring 17 points, all in the first half. Freshmen guard J.P. Prince and forward Fendi Onobun each scored six points and senior forward Isaiah Fox, who has seen more playing time of late, came in and scored three points in 14 minutes while using his bulk to help defend Powe.
"I came in and had some buckets," Fox said. "Fendi played real good off the bench. The bench was just into it, even the guys who weren't coming in and scoring.
"(Redshirt freshman forward) Mohamed (Tangara) came in and played great. He got his hands on a lot of offensive rebounds. Whether he got them or not, he kept the ball alive."
With Arizona leading 54-49 and with 32 seconds remaining, Cal sophomore guard Omar Wilkes stole the ball at mid-court and went in for an uncontested dunk to cut the lead to three.
Radenovic, who barely missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds, made one of two free throws to put the lead back to four. Powe knocked down both of his free throws after an Adams foul to cut the deficit back to two, but Radenovic knocked down two more free throws to give Arizona a 57-53 lead.
"I can't say that there was pressure," Radenovic said. "I wanted the ball in my hands." Powe scored once again on a layup, but Cal was forced to foul and Adams made one of two from the free-throw line, leading to Ubaka's missed 3-pointer.
In the first half, with the game deadlocked at 13 and 6:46 remaining, Arizona went on a 13-2 run. Prince hit Arizona's first 3-pointer from the left wing, which was followed by an Adams layup and a jumper hit by junior point guard Mustafa Shakur.
Tangara then made a jump hook that just went over the front rim and Onobun's dunk forced Cal head coach Ben Braun to call a timeout. Adams would score once more on a jumper before Powe ended the run.
"I felt like we took them out of their stuff (during the run), and we put Leon Powe in a situation where he forced a lot of things, and we were just trying to capitalize on them," Adams said.
With a sweep of the Northern California schools, Arizona now finds itself a half-game behind UCLA and Washington for first place in the Pac-10.
"It was just a situation where we knew we had to win, just like Thursday night, and even though we were shooting the ball bad, balls were still bouncing our way in terms of rebounds and loose balls and steals," Fox said. "It was a good weekend because we need(ed) these two games, and everyone was really happy in the locker room today."